part two
THE REST OF the holiday had gone by fairly quickly. Most of her days were spent doing nothing with Ginny, Fred and George. Before Paz knew it, she was marching back inside of Hogwarts along side of Astoria. She had not yet gotten a chance to see Pansy, Theo or Blaise, and was excited to enter the Great Hall so she could finally greet them.
"I've heard rumors they are cracking down extra hard this second term," Astoria whispers to Paz, attempting to be unheard by everyone else.
"Where did you hear that?" Paz questions as they finally enter a corridor and are inside of Hogwarts.
"My dad informed me. He told me to stick by Daphne and don't do anything stupid. I guess I'll be going against both of those things." Astoria chuckles, earning a smile from Paz.
The several groups of Slytherin march through the halls in even rows and lines, something Snape had made mandatory when being in large groups such as this. The moment Paz stepped inside the Great Hall, she immediately walked over and took a seat at the edge of the Slytherin table, saving spots for her friends.
The seventh years were right behind the sixth years, Paz couldn't stay still in her seat, too eager to be reunited with the others. Once getting a glimpse of Blaise, she began to wave him over to where she was. As he emerged from the crowd, Theo and Pansy followed. Pansy and Blaise looked pleased to see her, though Theo did not.
Paz noticed large bags under his eyes and the relaxed look that normally rested on his face was gone, replaced by a nervous and angry looking one.
"Paz!" Pansy shrieks, wrapping her sister in a tight hug from behind before taking a seat next to her. "How was your holiday?"
"Quiet boring," Paz sighs, "I'm sure it would have been better if I hadn't witnessed one of my best friends get snatched on the way home."
"No sign of her yet?" Blaise chimes in from across the table. Paz shakes her head no.
After Professor Snape says a few words about stricter rules that Paz chooses to ignore, dinner for the night is finally served. Paz, having been stuffed from eating far too much candy on the way here, only had a couple bites of chicken before pushing her plate aside.
She glances up to Theo, who seems to be eating very rushed, as if he has someplace to be. Paz knew something was most definitely wrong with him, and she was determined to find out just what it was.
Once dinner ended, Paz and Pansy talked in hushed voices the entire way back to their house, Theo and Blaise right behind. They crowded and squished onto the small couch in the Slytherin common room, Paz leaning onto Theo as she continued to tell Pansy all about a book she had read over holiday.
Theo was very tense, tugging at the hem of his shirt every so often. The next time Paz noticed him doing it, she poked his bicep.
"Why are you so twitchy today?" She questions.
"Why are you so nosey today?" He shoots back, though Paz was unamused.
"When am I not nosey?" Paz asks, earning an eye roll from Theo. "But seriously, you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, now stop asking questions." He groans, clearly in a bad mood. Without saying another word, Theo stands up off the couch and leaves, heading towards his dormitory.
"Yeesh," Blaise mumbles, "That one has been in a bad mood since we got on the train."
"Did he say anything was wrong?" Paz questions, looking back and fourth between Pansy and Blaise.
"Nope. Kind of shut down all contact we had with him once we got home for the holiday. I suspect family problems." Pansy shrugs, easily brushing the matter off her shoulders.
Family problems could be a factor in it, though Paz knew Theo. She knew he wouldn't throw a tantrum just because of some problems going on at home. In fact, she knew Theo would never throw a tantrum, when he was upset he usually would choose to stay silent. He wasn't the kind to talk back and storm off, he would just sit back and observe.
With these thoughts of Theo on her mind, she says good night to her sister and friend before heading up to her own dormitory. Astoria was already asleep when Paz arrived. Paz let herself fall back onto her bed, wanting nothing more than a good nights sleep. This would give her a chance to relax, because she knew tomorrow she was for sure getting into an argument with Theo.
Like he said, she was nosey. And Paz was certainly going to find out what was troubling Theo and get rid of it for him.
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Theo had skipped breakfast the next morning, making Paz wait until lunch time to finally get to chat with him. Pansy and Blaise had eaten lunch earlier, leaving just Theo and Paz at the edge of the Slytherin table.
Paz has taken a seat next to Theo rather than across from him, sitting uncomfortably close.
"Wonderful lunch options today, huh?" Paz says, scooping some small potato bits onto the corner of her plate.
"I'm not in the mood Paz." Theo grumbles, nudging her away from him.
"You're awfully moody since returning here.. is everything alright at home?" Paz asks quietly.
Theo throws his utensils onto his plate and stands up from the table, grabbing his jacket and speed walking out of the Great Hall.
"Hmm. Must be family problems then." Paz says to herself. She finishes up her lunch before rushing after Ginny, who had left a moment before her.
Upon arrival back to Hogwarts, the two both have received heavy stacks of assignments that would be due by the end of the week. Paz and Ginny both decided on hitting up the library after their last few classes of the day.
Paz wasn't too fond of the library anymore, knowing that Amycus or Alecto could walk in any second and make up an excuse to punish her. At the same time, that also made it better. The faster students finished their work, the faster they could leave and dodge the Carrows.
"This Transfiguration essay is kicking my butt." Paz groans, letting her head fall into her arms on the desk in front of her.
Ginny throws a crumpled up piece of parchment at her.
"Oh shut up and get a move on, Neville's expecting us soon." Ginny states, then continuing on her foot and a half Transfiguration essay.
"For what? There's no meeting tonight." Paz whispers, not wanting others to over hear.
"I dunno, he just asked me at lunch to meet him there with you." Ginny shrugs.
Once Ginny finishes her essay she quickly packs it away in her bag. She glances over towards Paz, who was doodling a rather large dragon in the corner of her paper.
"You're hopeless," Ginny jokes, closing up Paz's parchment for her, "Now c'mon."
Paz throws her things into her bag and follows Ginny to the seventh floor corridor. They check the area before entering the Room of Requirement, where Neville is already waiting. Paz smiles warmly towards him, though he looks rather nervous.
"What's up Neville?" Paz asks, placing her bag down and falling back into a comfy bean bag.
Instead of answering, Neville scratches the back of his head, then begins pacing back and fourth in front of the two girls. Paz and Ginny glance at each other, then back to Neville. It was clear to Paz that Ginny really did not have any clue as to why Neville had requested their presence there tonight.
Quite some time went by with nothing but silence. The tension in the room quickly began to grow. Neville at times would stop pacing, look as if he was about to say something, before continuing to pace again. It was very frustrating and both girls were growing impatient.
"Just let it out will you?" Ginny states bluntly.
Neville sighs before turning towards Paz specifically.
"Seamus saw something this morning during Dark Arts, and I don't think you're going to like it all that much." Neville says cautiously.
"Well, what is it?" Paz asks curiously. She was quite scared of what he was going to say next, as she wasn't aware of anything that could possibly upset her all that much.
Sure, Hogwarts was a complete mess at the moment and students were being tortured left and right, but that was all old news. Paz, along with the others, had grown somewhat numb to it all. But the way Neville was so hesitant to inform Paz of whatever Seamus had seen, she knew it wasn't anything good.
"It was Theo.." Neville begins, mumbling the last few words so Paz couldn't hear them.
"What about Theo?" Paz questions, standing up from the bean bag she was sitting in. "Is he alright?"
Neville scratched the back of his neck.
"He had- um, he had-"
"Just say it!" Paz shouts, clearly out of any patience that was left inside of her.
"He had a Dark Mark." Neville states abruptly.
The tension in the room grew incredibly after that statement. Paz was looking at Neville as if he had just insulted her, and Ginny was looking at Paz with pity in her eyes.
Paz began to laugh, which both Neville and Ginny found to be quite horrifying, as it went on for an oddly long amount of time.
"You're joking with me, right Neville?" Paz laughs, wiping a tear away from her eye. "This is all a joke that you two orchestrated, correct?"
Ginny looks towards the ground. Neville locks eyes with Paz, guilt and pity written all over his face.
"I wouldn't joke about this Paz. Seamus said when Theo raised his hand, he got a real good look at what he thought to be a fresh Dark Mark." Neville explains.
Paz falls backwards, back onto the bean bag. She places her head in her hands and groans loudly.
"He must be seeing things then." Paz mumbles, then looking up towards Ginny. "You don't think he did, do you..?"
Ginny sighs.
"I wouldn't put it past him Paz, not with parents like his."
Paz didn't talk for the remainder of the night, all except when she had thanked Neville for the information and said goodbye to her two friends for the night. She lazily made her way back to the Slytherin house, not bothering to look out for the Carrows or Snape.
Luckily for her, she made it back without any run ins with them. Once entering into the common room, she looked over to the fire place to see Theo and Blaise talking in hushed voices. Theo's sleeves were still pulled all the way down.
Blaise caught her looking and beckoned her over, though Paz waved him off and headed off towards her dormitory, doing her best not to look towards Theo, who was staring at her up until she was finally out of their eye sight.
Once returning to her dormitory and getting cozy in her bed, Paz began to understand why she had been having all these odd feelings about Theo. The cause of it all must have been him receiving his Dark Mark. It all made sense now, though Paz really wished that it didn't. Despite her promise to herself the previous night, she literally couldn't get rid of this for him.
She wasn't looking forward to breakfast with him and the others the next morning.
HI i'm back :) i will be updating less frequently since i don't have all of the chapters done yet, i'm hoping 1-2 times a week, hopefully more!
but i'm so happy to be back and writing about paz again! i've also been writing up a star wars x marvel story, which has been very fun to create so far. not sure if it will end up published, but if you're interesting keep an eye out!
hope you enjoyed the first chapter of part two!
gia